The Girl Who Should've Died
by FreakingOutAlways
Summary: Loki has begun the invasion. The Avengers have been called together. Phil Coulson travells to Ireland to recruit a young girl with a tragic story to go with her shady past. How is it she knows the team so well? Rated T to be safe because i have no idea how the ratings work.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: OK, this has been in my head for a while ever since I saw that awesome movie, and I had to get it down on paper. I hope you guys like it, I'll try and update regularly but please try and summon the effort to read and review. The button is there! USE IT!**

In Ireland, there are several small Islands dotting the southern coast. No-one on the mainland gave them much bother. They were mere specks on the horizon. Some were owned by people who could afford to buy them, some were used as resorts. There was nothing mysterious about them, although those with an active imagination, not dragged down with ordinary life, facts and physics, made up many stories surrounding them.

Magic lands, a portal of to a different universe and savages living in the wilderness. Unsurprisingly, these were fictions, not facts, but did however ensure an A* in a GCSE marked English assessment and therefore be given Dominoes pizza and chicken strippers as a reward. Who cares if the stories weren't real? Dominoes pizza was brilliant, and it was delish.

Little did they know that a mysterious, mystical person did live on one of those Islands. It was for this very reason, on a grey, dreary day, swamped with hail, downpours and fine mists that soaked you to the bone, a man in a neat, black suit with absolutely no creases,( which in itself was creepy,) and dark sunglasses, spent four hours on a private jet and two more arguing with a young, broke boat owner about the price of a two way trip to the smallest and furthest island. Ten thousand dollars later, Agent Phil Coulson had himself a lift.

The Island itself was beautiful. Gorse, heather and other wild plants covered the hills and from on top of the sheer cliff he had staggered up, Phil could see the faint silhouette of England bordering on the horizon. Nevertheless, he was not enjoying himself very much. He had jetlag, it was raining, and his glasses were splattered with the rain water. Also, his posh black shoes had filled with water and were making sloshing sounds, his socks were soggy, and they were rubbing. He was so going to get blisters.

Phil sighed. He needed to find the girl. The whole world could depend on her and her extra-ordinary gifts. Plus then he could return home. 'God bless America.' He muttered to himself, a reluctant smile tugging at the end of his mouth. He missed the sunshine. Phil turned and walked away from the cliff from where he was seriously contemplating jumping, and putting an end to his misery. But he decided against it, for the pure reason Director Fury would find a way to bring him back from the dead, and kill him all over again. But a lot more painfully. And slowly.

He lurched through some vines, (lurching because he had just tripped over a tree root . . . again) and saw the house. Well, actually he saw the garden first. It was pretty hard to miss, seeing how it was hosting a cow, several chickens and a rather angry looking goat. In addition, the ground was covered in poppies, roses, lilies and whole load more of bright flowers. Then there was the vegetable patch, green tufts that lead down beneath the earth to what he presumed was carrots, Strawberry and raspberry plants, rhubarb, apple and pear trees and a whole load of potatoes. It was pretty impressive and rather painful, to look at, due to the amazingly fluorescing flowers.

Blinking rapidly, and trying to avoid the goat, Phil edged his way to the door bearing flaking paint and a skull and crossbones door knocker, picked it up gingerly, against his better judgment, and rapped it several times against the wood. There was no answer, but the door, slowly and rather creepily, swung forwards. He stepped into the musty, dark interior, hesitantly, because what door swung open by itself and had nothing life threatening, lingering behind it in wait?

As it turns out, he was right. The instincts that had kept him alive for years saved his life now. As the bang went off, half deafening him as it did so, he immediately dived forwards, landing with a painful flump onto the floor, suddenly finding himself tasting the dusty carpet. It didn't taste good.

Cautiously, and painfully ('Damn that floor is hard') he got to his feet and looked behind him, noting the bullet that had lodged itself in the door (which had slammed behind him as weirdly as it had opened) right where his head would have been. Oh yes. She definitely lived here. The clinking of beads sent him whirling back around, peering curiously into the shadows, wanting to see the young lady he had apprehended as a child.

The pale hand that had swept aside the bead curtain, was followed by a short, skinny body clutching a rifle that was still aimed somewhere between Phil's eyes and wearing an ugly scowl on the pretty, but half-starved face.

'Damn' Spa Quartos said coldly, not breaking eye contact with Phil, nor lowering the rifle, (which was beginning to worry Phil, just a little bit).

'I missed.'

**REVIEW! Please.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This chapter is slightly longer but I am pleased with it. However, feel free to give some constructive criticism and please review!**

Phil looked hard at the girl in front of him. Spa Quartos. The last time he had seen her; she had been ten years old and had clubbed him around the head with a leg from a wooden chair. She had changed.

Spa was no longer the chubby, smiling baby that had been featured in the family phtos when they had been called to the house. Nor was she the angry killer that her gifts and the world had turned her into, with the hunted look on her face that had featured in so many surveillance tapes, all stored in a single box in his desk.

The hunted look was still there, but the anger that had smouldered in her eyes was gone, replaced by suspicion and sadness. Spa was also taller, by about two inches and she was also a lot thinner, her white skin was drawn tightly over her cheekbones and her wrists were so tiny, Phil was sure he would snap them with nearly no effort at all. Her hair was different too. It was no longer the rich waves that had defined her as a child was gone, replaced by a dark crop with a long side fringe hanging in front of one eye.

'You've grown up' Phil said in his best, I'm going to act like everything is fine and dandy in the world and ignore your hostile feelings.

Spa's eyes narrowed. 'No thanks to you' she replied frostily, not fazed by his cool demeanour.

'You would have had my eyes gouged out with a spoon like that little boy on Slumdog Millionaire and then gone home and had coffee'

Her voice, which at first had been calm(ish) and controlled, had quickly risen to an outraged shout, her entire, skeletal body shaking and shuddering with suppressed emotion.

'You did kill many people' Phil pointed out.

'I didn't kill anyone who didn't deserve it and even then it wasn't by choice' she snarled, reminding Phil once again of the deadly weapon in her arms, by raising it so it was aimed at the centre of Phil's forhead.

Phil swiftly, and wisely, decided to change the subject. 'I did not come here to argue with you Spa,' he began calmly.

Spa raised one eye-brow in disbelief, and snorted quietly.

'Really!' Phil said in earnest. 'I came to ' he paused. Phil was not sure what Spa's reaction was going to be, but Phil was pretty sure that it was going to be hostile and was, against his training and will, nervous.

'SHEILD needs your help' he said. But he said really quickly, so it came out as, 'Sheildneedsyurelp'

Unfortunately, she seemed to understand his garbled speech and her eyes widened in blatant disbelief at his nerve, before moving forward so fast she was a mere blur, and pinning Phil to the wall by his throat. Spa's eyes, Phil noticed faintly, were sparking and simmering with rage.

'How _dare you_!' She hissed, her grip on Phil's neck, despite her size and condition, immensely strong, and deadly.

'SHEILD took _everythin_g from me! All I did was get kidnapped and get Tony out of that cave. Then, I find myself the subject of brutal interrogation, from which I still have the scars, by the guys whom I _thoug_ht were my side!' Spa jabbed an accusing finger in Phil's face, a mere half inch from his eye. Phil got the feeling she was showing great restraint from poking it out.

'And then _you_ come here, the very person who gave out the questions I couldn't answer, and the punishments that I _didn't_ deserve, asking for _my help_?!'

'_It's not for SHEILD'_ Phil rasped, and even that was both painful and difficult with an arm pressed firmly against his jugular.

'No?!' she asked sceptically, the arm tightening just a tad so that Phil found it that bit more difficult to suck in the oxygen he so desperately needed.

'_No,_' Phil gasped out, '_You'd be saving the world'_

The red haze that had started to breeze into the corners of his vision disappeared as he was let loose and, whilst trying to stay on his feet, (because his head was so light he felt like he was flying. . .and that made Phil feel like puking) he saw her standing with an unreadable expression on her face.

'The Avengers' she breathed. It was half question, half statement, and filled with shock. Phil wasn't surprised; she knew what the Avengers were. She knew why they had been created and she also knew that the world had to be in extreme danger for them to be gathered together. It was extremely dangerous to have that many powerful people in one room. Agent Phil Coulson was telling the truth.

Phil nodded his assent, as his throat felt like a barbecue coal, hot and inflamed.

Spa continued to stand there in an apparent trance for about thirty seconds before she landed back in reality, and looked over at Phil massaging his throat, with something that felt like a pang of guilt resounding in her chest. It had been a long time since she had snapped like that and she had broken the promise that she never would. Sighing in defeat and unspoken apology, she waved her hand vaguely in Phil's direction.

At once, the fire in Phil's throat was quenched, becoming beautifully cool and soothing.

Spa was still looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Then she turned, and swept aside the bead curtain, holding it to the side. She looked back at him and jerked her head through the makeshift door impatiently.

Phil took that to mean, 'You'd better come in then' and took the silent invitation before the girl could change her mind.

The house was split into two rooms, plus the small hall where the two and been standing. In one room there was a small kitchen unit tucked into the corner, as well as a bed, an armchair, a fireplace and several easels, stood randomly about the room.

Phil took a look at some of them, but one in particular caught his eye. It was a charcoal drawing, a close up of a young girl's face. She was crying, tears dripping of her nose and streaming down her cheeks and her hair plastered to her head several locks hanging messily in her face. Phil recognized the picture. It was exactly how Spa had looked after a particularly gruelling interrogation.

Spa sat in the bed, pulled out a battered bag from underneath it, and began to pack, rummaging in the small set of draws for clothes, fetching bottles from the room that Phil presumed was the bathroom.

'I take it you're coming' Phil said casually, marvelling at how many clothes she needed to pack, and all the cans, pots and bottles she used.

Not looking up from where she was cramming yet another t-shirt into the already bulging bag, she said,

'Tony Stark is on this, isn't he?'

'Yes, he is. Flying out to the base right now'

Winning the battle she had been fighting with the zip, Spa turned and grinned. The gesture looked so strange on the white, taunt face; Phil took a step back in slight alarm.

'Then of course I'm going! Somebody has to keep him out of trouble, not to mention play peace-keeper. Besides,'

The grin became mischievous.

'It's been a very long time since I've met up with Bruce and the Incredible Duo. Besides which, I want to meet this Captain America everyone has been talking about, and _kick his ass_!'

**AN: Tada! What do you think? Let me know your opinions by reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: OK, I know that in the film, Coulson is with Steve, but for the sake of the story, bear with me here!**

Spa's enthusiasm was drained the moment the plane took off. She sat ramrod straight, her fingernails digging into the arms of the chair, her eyes wide and her face, already white, now a sickly shade of grey.

Spa couldn't help it. She had been raised by a scientist, in a house of science and logic. And logic told her, that no matter how many fancy engines this thing had, it was impossible for something with this much mass and weight to stay in the air. Phil, however, had taken the seat directly opposite and was at this very moment, reading some magazine filled with nothing but idle gossip. Or rather, he was pretending to read it. Spa had been watching and had noticed how his pupils were staying in one place. Not able to stand the uncomfortable silence that had sprung between them, Spa had taken to stuffing her ear-plugs from her ipod into her ears and blasting the music up as loud as she could.

When they finally landed on the carrier, Spa practically threw herself out of the plane. It was true she landed on her knees and was near kissing the ground muttering under her breath, '_never_ again, he wants to get me _killed_, illogical, _and completely impossible!'_

'What I don't get' Phil said, handing Spa her bag and pulling the girl to her feet. 'Is why you are so afraid of planes and yet you're so glad to be on the carrier?'

'Simple.' She replied, shaking his arm of hers and looking him in the eye. 'Tony designed and helped to build this thing. I _trust_ Tony. That' she nodded in the direction of the jet they had just exited 'is one of _SHEILD's_ aeroplanes_. I don't trust SHEILD_. Plus, it's not in the air yet'

Her gaze wandered to where two more jets had just landed, and the two men and one woman that had stepped out.

'That them?' she asked, not taking her eyes off the blond man. During her time spent with Tony, she had learnt a lot about the billionaire's past, and many of the reasons why he is what he is today. More perhaps, that Tony ever realized. One thing Spa did know for certain was that Captain America ruined her friend's childhood. And she wasn't happy about it.

'Yes' said Phil, calmly. 'Those are your teammates'

'I know who they are' Spa snapped at him. 'I've met them before'

Without turning around, Spa knew that Phil's face would be lit up in bewilderment. Spa had indeed met these people before. But it had been a long time ago, when she had escaped from SHEILD and not in very nice circumstances, most involving destruction and her near demise. Spa noticed that the woman had looked up, and was now walking towards them. So this was black widow, she thought, sizing her up. Or otherwise known as Natasha Romanov, a Russian assassin, pretty, but also poisonous. Spa smiled to herself. She herself had used her image in the past to her own advantage, in situations where her opponents saw a child, and not the killer she was forced to become.

She heard Phil walk up from behind her and go towards Natasha. She followed. The two men had trailed behind Natasha, one wearing glasses and had dark hair, the other, and extremely muscular and with blonde hair. Spa did not like the way Steve Rogers was looking at her at all. It was a conscientious look, one that made that little, tiny bit of her past self, squirm and reawaken the feelings of worthlessness inside of her.

She stuck out her hand.

'Captain America' she greeted, with no pleasure in her voice. She kept in especially null and void. There was no point, she had decided, of verbally bashing him now. After all, she did not know him. She had merely deduced, and her deductions could be incorrect, no matter how low the possibility. A verbal attack could be completely uncalled for.

Captain America took her small hand in his huge one, and shook it gently; as if he were afraid it would come off.

'I'm sorry miss, but I have absolutely no idea what to call you' he said, sounding embarrassed, but at the same time smiling. It was a cute smile. Spa didn't like it.

'Spa Quartos' she said smoothly.

'Has Phil asked you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?'

The captain looked confused. 'Trading cards?'

'They're vintage, he's very proud.'

Leaving the befuddled Captain in her wake, Spa turned to Bruce Banner, who was looking at her in a way she recognized, even though she had not seen a doctor for years. It was a look that all ill people get from doctors, one that tries to analyse just from your appearance, if you've eaten, slept or taken your medication as much as they would like you to.

'Bruce Banner' she greeted jovially, sounding much friendlier, her smile becoming genuine.

'It's so nice to meet you! You know, I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous raging green monster. It's epic!'

Bruce looked slightly bewildered as he shook her hand and sounded uncertain when he answered, 'Um. . . thanks'

'Well, he did save my life' Spa said, still smiling, but this time a little sadder, feeling sorry for the man who had been hunted for crimes he couldn't help. He reminded her if herself. Spa had promised herself a long time ago that if she ever came across General Ross, he wouldn't walk away from her intact.

Bruce's mouth opened, no doubt about to interrogate further, but was interrupted by Phil and Natasha.

'Agent Romanov, I don't think you've met Spa Quartos, the youngest member of the team.'

The agent gave a small, insincere smile and shook her hand.

'Quartos, is that a Spanish name?'

'Yes, it is!' Spa was surprised, not many people recognized her Spanish heritage. It was a rather touchy subject for her anyway, any memory of her mother was one she wanted gone.

'You don't look Spanish' stated the Agent Bluntly. 'Your accent is Irish'

'I've been a bit too busy to work on my tan' Spa replied, rather coldly, letting her hand fall limp. As expected, Natasha let go.

Spa saw the Agent's eyes shine with something akin to recognition as she spoke. It was only four years ago that she had helped out Black Widow and Hawkeye, and Spies tended to have good memories. Speaking of which. . .

'Hey Phil, where's the Hawk?' she called, looking around as if he would jump out from behind one of the jets and yell 'Boo!' She wouldn't be very surprised if he did, actually. At once, Spa knew she had said something rather silly. Black Widow stiffened, and looked at her more sharply. Spa knew that Natasha had underestimated her. She had a feeling; the agent would not do so again.

'Agent Barton has been compromised' Phil said, in his ever so even voice, that made Spa want to punch him. 'Now then, Gentlemen, Lady, child' Phil smirked at the glare Spa threw at him, but otherwise ignored it, 'You may want to come inside, it's going to get a little difficult to breathe'

'Keep on going the way you are Phil and you be finding it more than difficult' Spa muttered darkly, but if Phil heard her, he paid no attention.

'I myself am needed on the bridge. They're starting the trace face. I'll see you there' he added to Natasha, and left. Spa watched him go, and felt muscles she had no idea were tense, relax. After everything Phil had done to her, she couldn't be in the same room with him without fingering the knife in her pocket and fighting the impulse to use it.

A voice over the Intercom suddenly sounded, echoing over the deck.

'_Flight mode. Secure the deck'_

This was followed by a loud clunking and whirring sounds from hidden machinery, and a very bad feeling in the pit of Spa's stomach. Rogers and Banner had made their way to the edge of the Helcarrier. Following their lead and looking down, she could see the ocean froth and bubble below them. Over the noise, she heard Rodgers shout,

'Is this a submarine?!'

'I wish!' she thought silently.

And then she heard Banner answer louder still, 'Really? They want me in a submerged pressurized container?'

Spa heard propellers spin, and felt the carrier jolt as it was lifted into the air. She groaned and shouted, 'No! This is worse!'

And was promptly sick all over the flight deck.

**OK, I hope you like it! Let me know your opinions and ideas by PMing me or reviewing. Hope to hear from you soon! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Right, so this chapter is sort of rushed, if you have any questions or queries, please Review or PM me.**

Agent Romanoff led the team to bridge. The place was all up in a huge hullabaloo. SHEILD personnel were working at every station, or walking about with sheaths of paper, leaning over the backs of chair and speaking into Ear-pieces. Spa caught snatches of conversation as she walked by.

'- maximum performance take off, increase output to capacity.'

'Power plant performing at capacity. We are clear'

As Fury came into view, Spa shrunk slightly behind Bruce. Spa put out one of the Guy's eyes. She didn't think he was going to be really pleased to see her. Thankfully, he seemed to be very busy, and didn't notice her.

'All engines operating. SHIELD emergency protocol one nine three point six in effect.' said a pretty woman, with her hair tied back and a cut on her cheek.

to fury she added, 'We're at level, Sir'

'Good.' Fury replied 'Let's vanish.'

'Engage Retro-reflection panels.' Said the woman. Outside, Spa knew that the underside of the ship was now coated with mirrors so it blends in with the sky.

Fury turned to face Banner and Rodger.

'Gentlemen.' He looked pointedly behind Banner and said, '_Spa'_

Spa came out, smiling sheepishly.

'Sorry, again' she said quietly, 'About the eye, I mean'

'I sneaked up on you, you panicked. Just don't do it again.'

Fury turned his attention from her, to the good Doctor.

'Doctor, thank you for coming.' He said, reaching out and shaking Bruce's hand.

'Thanks for asking nicely,' Bruce said politely, but Spa could definitely sense sarcasm.

'So- um- how long am I staying?'

'Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind.'

Why did Spa feel like Fury was telling porkie pies again?

'Well, where are you with that?' asked Bruce, slightly desperately. He had heard it too.

Here was where Phil came waltzing in from the shadows where he had been skulking, near invisible.

'We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops, if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us.'

Romanoff shook her head.

'It's still not gonna find them in time.'

'Pessimist' Spa mumbled. Romanoff shot her an impatient look.

'You're going to have to narrow your field. How many Spectrometers do you have access to?'

Bruce looked astonished. He had opened his mouth and a completely different voice came out of his mouth.

Amazed gazes rested on Spa, who was tinged slightly pink. Only Fury and Phil didn't seem surprised.

'How many are there?' Fury asked.

Bruce appeared to have recovered from his shock, and Spa nodded encouragingly at him, and Bruce was the one who answered him.

'Um, Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the Spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for Gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?'

Fury gave a funny, grim smile, and turned to look at some other computer screen.

'Agent Romanoff, would you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory, please?'

Romanoff tugged at Bruce's sleeve, and he followed her uncertainly as she began to lead him away. As she went, Spa heard her say to him,

'You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys.'

Meanwhile, Spa's attention was brought to Phil and the Captain.

'I mean, if it's not too much trouble.' Phil was saying. Spa grinned and sat herself down on a swirly chair. All she needed now was popcorn. The toffee kind, not the disgusting cinema stuff that had no flavour whatsoever.

'No-no, it's-fine.' He Captain hastened to assure him, although he didn't l_ook_ fine. He looked thoroughly uncomfortable.

It's a vintage set. 'Phil said, beaming. He looked ridiculous. Spa had begun to shudder with silent laughter at the expression on the Captain's face.

'Took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges but-'

Phil was cut of by a bleeping and a shout from a nearby monitor.

' We got a hit. Sixty seven percent match. Wait- cross-match, seventy nine percent.'

An agent Spa recognized, (the one who remembered to feed her) Agent Jasper Sitwell called up to them,

' We got a hit! Sixty seven percent match. Wait- cross-match, seventy nine percent'

Phil was now all business.

'Location?' he snapped, walking to the bar and leaning over it. Sitwell read of the screen as an answer.

'Stuttgart, Germany. Twenty eight, Königstraße.'

'the city of Stuttgart's main shopping street.' Spa said, 'I've been there before, shopping with my Mom. Great Hospital there.'

The Captain looked confused, but Spa didn't elaborate.

'He's not exactly hiding' Spa said, thoughtfully. 'I wonder. . .'

'Captain, Spa, you're up' Fury snapped.

Natasha drove. The Quinjet got them to Germany in about thirty minutes.

'Natasha!' Spa yelled, 'Are we right over Germany?'

'Yeah! Natasha hollored back, 'We'll be at at a dropping point in about five'

Spa looked over Natasha's shoulder, through the front window and below. She could see the lights, and the roof of the Art Gallery below.

'Nah, it's cool,' Spa shouted, 'I'll go from here'

Spa rolled the door open. 'Are you crazy?' Rodgers shrieked from behind her, she could barely hear him over the rushing of the air coming in through the door.

'I have been told' she replied, loudly, 'But I've survived so far!'

And she jumped.

Normally, Spa would rather hand herself back over to the Ten Rings terrorist group than jump out of a quinjet flying at full throttle over 10,000 feet over the beautiful thing known as 'the ground'. But, people were dying at the hand of some evil Harry Potter wannabe, and as much as she didn't want to be here, she was never going to say no to saving lives.

Spa engaged her shield about a second before slamming into the cobbled earth. Now, she wasn't exactly harmed, but the wind was knocked out of her, and her eye-balls felt as if they were jolted out of her skull. And she felt as if she was going to hurl. Again.

'Fudge that' she groaned, rolling out of the Spa-shaped hole in the street.

'Never. Again!'

The sound of String Quartet No-13 by Franz Schubert did nothing to improve her mood. One of the Ten-Ring's leaders had been rather fond of the guy, and had insisted on playing him when he forced Spa's head underneath an ice cold bowl of water when she was late for her Arabic lesson. It did nothing to improve her mood.

Spa looked around, the bones in her neck clicking as her head turned. A slight frown marred the smooth skin of her forehead, she was rather confused. She didn't see any rogue god with a blue glowing staff running about. And she had no idea where to start. Spa was about to walk into the huge building she had crashed outside,(well, might as well start somewhere) but she hadn't even stepped onto the first step, when the screaming started.

The doors burst open, and Spa veered out of the way, as a rather large woman in a very feathery hat jiggled past her, hollering at the top of her lungs. She was followed by an entire torrent of people who poured out of the double glass doors. That sort of gave her a clue.

Spa stared up the steps, and felt her mouth drop open. A man, (who was actually a god) clad in leather and ram horn head-dress, with dark hair and bright green eyes was following the people out, with the regal air of a prince, or a king. But considering that nasty smirk on his face, Spa decided that he was either a fallen prince or an evil king. But that wasn't what shocked her. What had her so shocked was the fact that she knew the guy. She had spent five days with him. And here he was, with a new wardrobe, a funny hat and blowing up a police car with the pretty blue staff-

'Holy Cheesepuffs!'

Spa ducked and rolled out of the way, as the flaming wreckage fell exactly where she had been standing, agape at the not so stranger baddie. For a moment she flashed back to a very different period of her life, when the car was caught by a huge muscled green figure, roaring into the night.

Then she was back in the current time-stream. And she whirled to face the trickster, whispering his name as if he could hear her.

'Loki?'

Loki, was now everywhere. Literally, he was everywhere, the guy had duplicated himself, using some weird magic mumbo jumbo voodoo, and was now surrounding the mob of terrified German citizens.

'Kneel before me' Loki said. The mob exchanged looks, unsure of whether to obey. Spa thought that he was most definitely the evil king. Who else would ask some random people that whilst terrorizing the village?

'I said KNEEL!'

At once, the people dropped to their knees. Women were sobbing into their Husband's dinner jackets, and they weren't looking all together either. Spa was more interested in looking at Loki. As he yelled, all his composure had vanished. He had no longer been the smooth, calm ruler that he was before. He was rabid, wild, out of control and utterly lethal, no longer the man she had known. He strode forward slowly, seeming to revel in their terror and their forced respect.

'Is this not simpler?' he asked, rhetorically, coming to a halt by the ring his clones had formed around the crowd.

'Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave, subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made-to be ruled. In the end- you will always kneel.'

Spa had had enough.

'Not a chance Rudolph' she said, rather rudely, actually, but the god was holding a staff that could turn anything to a pile of ash. He had also mind controlled a sort of friend of hers (Spa had mixed feelings about that) stolen an almighty weapon of destruction and was trying to invade her world. There was no need, in Spa's eyes, mind and opinion, to be polite.

Loki turned to her. As green eyes met green, his widened ever so slightly in recognition, but his facial expression remained impassive. He opened his mouth, probably about to say something equally as snarky and rude, but was interrupted by an old man in the midst of the amassed crowd, who had stood up and proclaimed, loudly, 'The girl is right!'

Up until the 'girl' part, Spa was beginning to feel worried for the man. But now, he could get blasted for all she cared, Spa was fifteen. For the love of marmite, _she was not a child!_

The old man was still speaking. 'We will not bow to men like you.'

Loki grinned. It wasn't a very friendly grin, but one that promised pain and imminent death.

'There are no men like me'

'That's true' Spa announced, 'I've met someone with such a big head, and I spent eight years living with my Mom'

Loki ignored her, but he did look rather annoyed. Spa was clearly ruining this for him.

Loki looked around the crowd, pleased at the fear he saw there.

'Look to your elder people' he said, mockingly, using his sceptre taking aim at the venerable man, 'Let him be . . . an example'

Loki fired. People screamed. Spa rugby tackled. Captain America came out of no-where.

When they were done, the Captain was crouched in front of the old bloke; the blast that had been aimed at said old bloke had hit Loki, therefor throwing him backwards. As that had happened, Spa had hit him from the side, so he pulled her along with him. The ending result was Spa lying on top of Loki, (which was rather a compromising situation) and Spa being punched back by Loki's fist. Caught unawares, she fell to the ground, and felt something warm and coppery trickle down the corner of her mouth.

'You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing'

'The soldier' Loki groaned, getting slowly to his feet, staggering slightly. '-the man out of time.'

Rodgers was stood in all of his stars and stripes glory, giving the slumped body of Spa with a bloody mouth and a pissed expression a worried glance, before switching his concentration to the current situation at hand.

'I'm not the one who's out of time here' he replied.

Behind him, the quinjet came in behind Rodgers, and Spa could see the scarlet haired assassin sitting behind the wheel. Beneath it, an extremely large gun unfolded from the underside of the plane. Over the microphone, Romanoff's voice could be heard.

'Loki, drop the weapon and _stand down.' _

He's not going to do that, Spa thought, and winced mentally when Loki immediately used the weapon he had been told to drop, and fired at the quinjet, causing Romanoff to bank hard to avoid the blast. Spa and the Captain took that to be their signal. Spa threw herself at the god's arm which was holding the staff, Steve just went for wherever he could hit.

Spa grabbed the guy's wrist and twisted it behind his back feeling a brief sensation of pity towards the guy as she felt his shoulder pop as it came out of his socket. It must've hurt, but Loki didn't show it, elbowing the Cap in the Stomach and kicking Spa in the face so she reeled back, picking up the sceptre as she went, and tripping over Steve, who was lying behind her.

Loki stood over them, panting, his shoulder looing weird in an extremely gross way.

'Kneel' he snarled.

Spa glared up at him, the corner of her mouth turning up into a smirk.

'Not today, Bucko' she growled and flipped herself back onto her feet. And the fight resumed. Loki, as it turned out, was really good at fighting. But Spa was better. The fact that she was impervious to injury certainly helped her chances, but Loki was definitely no delicate flower. She was having her work cut out. She dodged most punches, blocking others, smashing her foot into his stomach, feeling his ribs give, and whilst he was bent double, she smashed a fist into his nose, following it up with a knee in the groin and whacking him over the head with the sceptre that she had shoved into the Captain's startled hands.

Loki stood there, swaying slightly, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. Then Spa heard a familiar noise. She looked up, to see a familiar red and gold figure, swooping out of the gloom. Iron Man, also known as Tony Stark, fired a repulsor blast at Loki, flooring him onto the cobbles.

Stark landed next to him, the stun gun still steady and ready to go, should the need arise.

'Make a move reindeer games'

The Asgardian garb, including that ridiculous headdress, faded away and he raised his hand in the universal sign for, 'I surrender'

'Good move'

Rodgers had got to his feet and was looking at Iron Man, obviously sizing him up.

'Mister Stark' he said, respectively enough, but Spa knew he was searching for anything, any sign that reminded him of his long dead friend. That made her a _little_ bit pissed.

'Captain' Tony replied, looking at the man his father had hero worshipped his whole childhood.

'_Tony' _Spa squealed, launching herself at him, and hugging him around the neck.

'Spa?' Tony asked bewildered, 'What the fucking hell are you doing here'

He held her back from him and looked at her critically. 'When was the last time you ate?'

Spa rolled her eyes, and stomped her foot a little crossly.

'The last time I ate was Friday, Coulson called me in, and I am not a child anymore Tony! I can take care of myself, and if you don't believe me, take a look at exhibit A!' She crossed her arms and jerked her head at Loki, who was still lying motionless on the ground, and looking rather grey.

'What the fuck did you do to him?' Tony asked.

Spa smiled, kind of evily.

'As it turns out, even gods have little boy parts.'

**Please Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**SO SORRY! Seeing how i'm doing my GCSEs, i have to do more revision, more tests and assessments. I have actually been having mini breakdowns. Poor Nathan from my drama class got screamed at for touching my pink highlighter. Well here it is. Any qeries, PM me and please review.**

Steve Rodgers was extremely confused. He was bamboozled, befuddled and did not have the tiniest inkling of who the crazy girl was. Or how she was unharmed after doing a parachute stunt without the parachute. Or who she was. Or why she and Tony seemed to know each other so well, that they _would not stop talking! _

However Spa herself had never been so glad to see anyone in her entire life. Just seeing Tony's face when he eventually took off the oh so glorified red and gold helmet, all sorts of memories that she feared she had forgotten came rushing back to the surface. There were the bad ones, where neither could sleep alone, in fear of the night terrors that had them waking up screaming, and the good, when they curled up on the sofa with Pepper and watched Disney movies with packets of Doritoes and skittles.

Spa was well aware of the others bewilderment and annoyance at the incessant babble of chatter. But she hadn't seen Tony for what. . .? Five years? More? Time passes slowly when you're on the run, and Spa was no good at keeping watches in one piece. Nevertheless she found it rather amusing to see the Captain's left eye twitch like that, as the two old friends continued to jabber. Even Loki was chewing his bottom lip now.

Although now she thought of it, that could be with pain and not annoyance.

'Hey there Prancer' She called, switching seats and sliding into the seat next to him. Tony watched with amused apprehencian. Steve looked at her in a way that made it clear she was, in his mind, completely dotty and belonged in a cell at Bellevue.

'Shall we get that shoulder fixed? The misshapenness is beginning to creep me out'

Loki glared at her, obviously still a bit sore at the whole, 'getting beaten by a girl in a fight' thing.

'I do not require your assistance mortal' was his rather stiffly spoken snooty reply.

Spa wasn't fooled. She gave a snort that would have her mother rolling in her grave.

'Get off you high-horse Mr-Uppity. Would you like to do it with your handcuffed hands with some weird alien magic trick? Because if so, go right on ahead, be on your merry way, I am a captivated audience'

Spa leant forward in anticipation, face cupped in hands, arms resting on her knees. Loki appeared to be gritting his teeth. Sweet mother of pearl, this guy was more stubborn than a hyper Tony eating tootie-frutie. So Spa stopped with the nice cop, and progressed instead to the bad cop.

'OK, pay attention Gandalf' she snarled, getting right into Loki's face, who leant back so fast he bashed his head up against the wall.

'Either let me fix it, or I call upon the Assassin piloting, the metal man or the super soldier. What's it gonna be?'

Loki hid his fear very well, Spa thought, watching how his eyes widened the fraction of a smidge. Not as good as Tony's Poker Face but still a pretty good mask.

'Let her do it pal' was surprisingly, Tony's advice. 'She'll either hassle you or beat you up until you agree anyway.'

Loki regretted nodding as soon as he did so. The demon child, (because no normal midgardian could be so very evil) who looked so strangely familiar, grinned, and shoved his shoulder back into his socket without any warning whatsoever. Loki, much against his will, yelped and snarled some of the nastiest swears he knew in some strange Midgardian language. As he looked up, he saw them exchanging looks. Looks of secrets. It was a wise move, Loki mused seeing how there was an all-seeing, all-hearing Spy on-board, as well as a nosy goodie-two shoes soldier sitting in the corner. Oh, and him

Spa never did discover how Loki learnt French, _or _how he learnt how to swear in French. Because just when Loki opened his mouth, Fury's not so melodious tones cut across him, and drifted from the radio up at the front to the back.

'He saying anything'

'Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggg ghhhhhhhh' Spa growled in response.

'I am not a Pirate Quartos! Now report, what is Loki's status'

'He hasn't said anything Director' replied Romanov, coolly. 'We're bringing him back now'

'Good, we're getting low on time' Fury ordered gruffly, and the transmission was cut.

Rodgers took this opportunity to call a team huddle, right at the back of the craft, now Spa and Tony were momentarily quiet, Loki wasn't swearing in French and no-one was annoying the director.

'I don't like it'

Tony turned to look at him. 'What, Rock of Ages giving up so easy?'

Spa butted in, 'He didn't give up _that _easily; I kicked him where it hurts and you pointed the guns at him'

Rodgers was already shaking his head. Spa felt a spark of irritation ignite.

'I don't remember it being that easy' he argued, frowning slightly. 'This guy packs a wallop'

'So do I' Spa pointed out. 'And you were pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?'

Rodgers looked lost. 'I'm sorry?'

'I do martial arts' Spa mused. 'But Pilates could work. My Mother-' She froze. As a gereral rule Tiffany Quartos was not spoken of unless it was to insult her. Remembering something as casual as her Mum in black leggings, with her curly hair pulled back bouncing her baby girl on top of the rubber pink exercise ball, shook her. Family life hadn't been part of her for a very long time.

Tony took up her train of thought.

'Pilates is kinda like calisthenics, you may have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle.'

Spa threw him a grateful smile.

'Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in' Steve said. The poor guy actually sounder confused, like he couldn't understand why Fury wouldn't have told him. Tony sounded both sympathetic and grim as he told Steve of the first life lessons Spa had learnt during her experience with SHEILD.

'Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you'

'Get used to it' Spa added.

Steve looked at her searchingly. He's not the only one with secrets. We all have an Avengers File, why didn't I get yours?'

Spa felt her eyes get cold, and pushed the boiling, raw energy deeper down inside herself. Dimly, she registered Tony mutter, 'Shit Cap, you went there'

'I have a File Captain' Spa stated, 'It just isn't in Phil's office'

The two locked in an intensive staing match, green on blue, proverbial daggers shooting from each. Then, there was a flash of lightening, and the ship shook slightly.

'Whoa!' Spa cried out in mild alarm, as her knees buckled and she grabbed hold of Tony's arm for support.

'Where, for the love of Marmite, did this come from?'

There came a particularly loud rumble of thunder and yet another flash of lightening. Spa picked up on Tony's heart-rate, yet another of her little 'gifts' and squeezed his gauntlet covered hand gently. Ever since Afghanistan, the mere crackle of a storm reminded Tony of the ceaseless gunfire. In all honesty, Spa wasn't very good with loud noises either.

They weren't the only ones on edge. Loki was leaning forward and looking about in discomfort. Rodgers had picked up on it as well.

'What the matter? Scared of a little lightening?' Rodgers sounded more sceptical that taunting.

Loki's scathing tone as he replied, was somewhat blunted however, by the glint of fear shining in his eyes,

'I'm not overly fond of what follows'

Spa's eyes widen in realisation.

'Crackers, tell me it's not . . .'

There was a resounding, teeth jolting crash as someone or something, landed on the roof of the jet. Immediately, Tony donned the mask, and walked to the control panel by the door.

'What the hell are you doing Stark?' hissed Spa. 'Did you not learn anything from horror movies? _You never open the door in the middle of a storm_!'

But it was too late. The door was open, Tony was on the floor, there was a flash of a red cape and both Loki, and the stranger were gone. It had been enough time however, for Spa to see who the culprit was.

'OH BRILLIANT!' she bellowed, out into the thunder clouded vast sky whizzing past with incredible speed.

'PICKACHU IS BACK! THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE MEMO ODIN! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!'

'Sorry who?'

'Another Asgardian?'

'That guy's a friendly?'

'_Way_ too friendly' Spa muttered. The guy had nearly broken her ribs with one of his godly bear hugs.

She got a funny look of the Cap for this, but Tony took no notice. He knew her far too well to care about her odd habit of talking to herself. Instead, he had adopted what Spa liked to call, his HERO ATTITUDE all capitals, where everything was serious and no jokes were made. Mostly.

'It doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him the Tesseract is lost'

Spa mentally agreed. Loki could not be allowed to escape. Not when he had a weapon that could potentially wipe out human life.

Wait, Steve was talking, she had to pretend to listen.

'Stark, we need a plan of attack' Wait, what?

'I have a plan. Attack'

Without waiting for a reply, in true Tony Stark style, he turned and threw himself out of the Jet, and was swallowed by the darkness.

As predicted, Steve looked annoyed and he'd only known the guy for fifteen minutes.

'To be honest, that is the point of a plan of Attack' Spa pointed out fairly. Steve apparently, didn't appreciate her insight because he glared at her, (She was on the receiving end of a lot of those today) and made for the parachutes.

'What are you doing' cried Natasha from the front seat, frantically flicking switches in an effort to control the buffeting ship.

'Yeah Steve, what are you doing?' echoed Spa anxiously. 'Look, you should sit this one out'

'I don't see how I can' Steve sounded grimly determined as he strapped the parachute to his back and gripped his Shield tight.

'It's easy, just sit down!' Spa sounded disgustingly desperate, even to her own ears. 'Look, these guys are from legend, they're practically Gods! Don't mess with them, one has a hammer!'

But Steve wasn't listening. 'There's only one God ma'am' he said, 'And he doesn't dress like that.'

Then he was gone. Spa leant against the side of the door, arms folded.

'Am I invisible' she demanded of Natasha. 'No I mean it. There has to be a reason no one is listening to me.'

She sighed, then walked to the edge of the ramp.

'I'm getting sick of doing this you know!' She called back over her shoulder. 'Literally! And next time, someone else can do the skydiving! And Tony will do it without the suit!'

As she jumped, Spa could have sworn she heard Natasha Romanov, the ice cold assassin/spy/ninja of SHEILD laugh.


	6. Chapter 6

Spa crashed into Loki first. She honestly hadn't meant to. But when you're free falling with cold air pressing against your face so hard you can't even breathe let alone throw up (however much you may want to) the last thing on your mind is steering. In fact, the only thought running through Spa's frenzied mind was, 'omigodomigodomigodomigodomig odCRAP!'

She arrived just in time to see Thor pull Loki to his feet, none too gently, before she promptly slammed into him again, pinning him to the ground, and had just rolled off him, groaning when the end of a very big, very heavy, very dangerous looking hammer was shoved into her face.

'Identify yourself, strange flying creature with eyes of elves' Thor boomed, no joke, he actually boomed, his voice was deeper than the damn Grand Canyon and he was still not letting up on the hammer. Spa was beginning to get one killer headache. It felt a bit like King Kong with a set of Bongos. Eyes of Elves? Really?

Spa groaned again. 'Knock it off Thor! Inside voices!'

Thor looked adorably confused. 'But this is the outside, strange, tiny mortal'

Spa shared an exasperated look with Loki, before she realized what she was doing and glaring at him instead. She heaved herself to her feet, proud of herself for not staggering although the world was doing a strange optical illusion around her, seemingly swaying from left to right, and made her way towards the magical mastermind, jabbing an angry finger into his face although it really wasn't the guy's fault his brother stopped by and yanked him out of the Helcarrier by his neck.

'Well hello Chuckles! Isn't this a pleasant family reunion? Well, you said Hi, now say Bye'

Thor stepped closer, sweeping the hammer through the air so that it was literally a hair's width away from her nose.

'I cannot allow my brother back into midgardian confines. The carnage he could wreck-'

'I am not your brother!' Loki snarled and Spa saw hurt flash in both pairs of eyes. Thor's at the ferocity at which he was renounced but Loki's too. Loki wasn't his brother, she realized, as they bickered as only siblings could, but he wanted to be.

Loki was smirking now, the wistful light gone from his eyes.

'He did tell you my true parentage did he not?'

'Frost Giant, right?'

She knew as soon as she had opened her overly largemouth that this was the wrong thing to say. Loki looked shocked, almost angry, while Thor looked simply awkward.

'His heritage is not important'

Loki snorted disbelievingly. Thor rounded upon him.

'I speak only the truth! We were raised together, we played together, we fought together! Do you remember none of that?'

'I remember a shadow living in the shade of your greatness, I remember you tossing me into an abyss-'

'Whoa' Spa but in, sliding her small, easily snapable body in-between the two the two angry deities and faced Loki confused.

'You fell from the Bifrost. You let go of the staff, you weren't exiled! You also made a blooming big hole in my roof!'

Thor nodded his shaggy blonde head and Spa felt an overwhelming urge to pet it and scratch him behind the ears, he reminded her that much of the golden retriever, puppy, Sammy, that her father had given her for her seventh birthday, the one she had walked along the beaches outside their house in Montauk before everything had gone so horribly, dreadfully wrong. Before her father made so many enemies, before he loved her too much.

'The small human is correct. This is all but recompense for your imagined slights. The Earth is under my protection Loki!'

Then what the hell took you so long to show up, Spa thought furiously as Loki laughed, seemingly finding Thor's declaration nothing short of amusing.

'And you're doing a marvellous job with that. The Humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly threat. I mean to rule them, and why should I not?'

'Because that would be bad' Spa snapped at him, 'You've already possessed a good friend of mine, you've killed several good people, and had a good shot at two of the best Heroes I know. That is not a man who has the right to boss me about, let alone the rest of the planet'

Thor was breathing heavily, trying to control really had changed, she marvelled. The Thor before Jane would have smashed some heads together by now. On the other hand, that might not be such a bad thing. . . Damn love.

'You think yourself above them' Thor asked heavily, already knowing the answer before it had formed in Loki's twisted, manipulative mind.

'Well, yes' Loki replied, with the air of explaining something very obvious to someone very dim. Thor smiled sadly and shook his head softly. 'Then you miss the truth of ruling brother. Throne would suit you ill'

Spa blinked. Cripes, hee really had changed if Thor of all people was spouting wisdom like poetry. Then again, it was very easy to forget that Thor wasn't dim. He was actually quite bright, with interstellar knowledge of the universe well beyond Spa's own understanding. He just didn't understand humans in the same way, how they could be fragile, how to use a microwave and what was acceptable in modern culture. If humans popped up on Asgard, it is likely the Asgardians would think the same.

Loki growled and pushed Thor aside, and impressive feat, seeing how the latter was built like a mountain, and looked out, across the forest landscape the cliff looked out over.

'I've seen worlds that you have never known about. I have grown Odinson in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract and when I weild it-'

Thor frowned. 'Who showed you this power'

'That's a good point Thor' Spa said, looking at Loki carefully. There was something wrong with this pictre, she studied his face intently, looking for that missing piece, something so obvious but so very tricky to find if you weren't lucky enough to figure out that you needed to look for it.

Distantly, she heard Thor's hammer boomerang back into his massive fist with a metallic shing and his baritone voice say, 'You listen well brother-'

But that was all he got out, because at that moment there was a flash of scarlet and gold, and something very heavy slammed into them both, propelling them right of the cliff, downing trees right and left, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Environmentalists would be having a field day. Spa hit the ground too fast to bother calling upon her shield to engage hence she was left to stagger about in circles, clutching her shattered arm in agony and hiss a threatening, 'Stark'

'Hush now titch, Daddy's working'

Thor was not looking impressed. 'Do not touch me again' he rumbled warningly.

Tony, flippant as ever, didn't look worried, which was OK, because Spa did that for him.

'Then don't take my stuff'

This was the main reason why Spa had flown all the way out here. Tony was a brilliant guy, he was a genius, he had gone to college at fifteen and come out of MIT two years later with several qualifiacations fully grown men hadn't achieved in their entire life time. He had been held in a cave for three months and tortured systematically and yet still managed to come with an amazing escape plan, save his own life by inventing a nifty little gadget and built the first ever Ironman. But he was also an idiot, because he had absolutely no regard for his own safety. For this, Spa blamed his father, hwo had drilled the face that Tony was worth nothing into his head for as far back as the man could remember. In fact, it was most likely his first memory of him, swearing at his terrified child, bottle in one hand, fists swinging from the other. Henceforth, in Tony's mind, he was dispensable, the sacrificial lamb, as it were and had a rap sheet more than ten feet long of diagnosis'. His problems had problems, on top of the list were Depression, Servere PTSD and multiple suicide attempts. Spa knew. She had seen the scars, raised and ugly on the inside of his wrists.

'You have no idea what you are dealing with' Thor said threateningly.

Tony raised his eyebrows. Spa groaned.

'Uh, Shakespeare in the park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes'

'Thinkest thou he is frightened of thy weapon?' Spa yelled through gritted teeth, as a warning, he had to back off, gods weren't known for their outstanding patience. It was like talking to a brick wall. And Thor was getting increasingly wound up.

'This is beyond you Metal Man! Loki will face Asgardian justice'

'He gives up the cube and he's all yours. Until then-'

The face plate, previously up, was automatically flipped down. '-Stay out of the way. Tourist'

Spa felt it before she heard it. The air becoming thicker, muggy, charging with energy. Looking up, Spa saw clouds brewing, black, grey and dark moody purple running together like a water colour painting. The sound of lightening cracking broke through the sound barrier. The anger of the Storm Conjurer. She tried to cry out a warning but it was too late. Mjolnir flew through the air and smacked Ironman hard in the chest, forcing him back so hard, he smashed through several trees, (Cue crazy tree people to clutch at their chest and weep) before skidding to a stop.

'Oh shiz ' Spa muttered watching submersed in horror as the two each flung various projectiles at each other. It was like watching an extremely versatile game of ping pong, her head snapping from one angry idiot to the other.

It wasn't long before Spa had enough. She slashed her arm down, as if signalling for the axe to be lowered onto the victims neck, and an invisible wall, an alteration on her own shield erected between the two, resulting in each to bounce off it and crumple into an unidentifiable heap.

'Break it up ladies'

'Oh, come on slugger' Tony's voice sounding hysterically whiny, even through the robotic comm of his suit. 'I was beating him'

'Treat me like a brick wall Stark, I will make you one, kapeash?'

'We are not finished on out battle of wills Youngling!'

Just then, a familiar flying Shield whizzed through the air ricocheting off the boy's chests and flying back into the Cap's waiting hand. It would have hit Spa too, but she had yelped and belly flopped to the deck, in order to keep her precious head attached to her neck. She was way too young to star in Michael Jackson's Thriller.

'That's enough'

Rodgers jumped down from his rocky perch to join the three on the ground.

'Now I don't know what you're doing here'

'I have come to put an end to Loki's schemes!' Thor bellowed, evidently becoming frustrated at being picked on left and right so to speak.

'Prove it' Steve said calmly. 'Put the hammer down'

Stark shook his head frantically . 'Uh, yeah no, bad call! He loves his-'

Thor whacked Tony in the face, and he was sent flying backwards with a solid thunk, Spa left wincing as she felt an intense pain in her chest that she knew was not hers.

'You want me to put the hammer down!' he roared, leaping forward towards the Captain.

'Pips, he's lost it' Spa muttered, as Thor leapt into the air, Mjolnir hefted into the air above his head, bringing it down on the Captain's Shield, that he had least had the sense to shoulder so it covered the majority of his body, not to mention his rather fragile head, that would crack like and egg under the incredible smashing of the incredible tool. When the two connected there was a BOOM rivalling the atomic bomb, a brilliant flash of white light and the four of them were flung backwards in several directions.

'Are we done here' asked the Captain impatiently, looking a bit annoyed and with his blonde hair all messed up.

'We'd better' Spa growled, marching up to Tony and yanking him up sharply and dragging him to where the Cap and Thor had accumulated.

'You Guys seriously need a time out!' Spa spat out, rubbing her mostly healed shattered arm. She rounded on Thor, who took a step back despite himself. 'Good God Hammer Head! Is your memory that short? I'm one of the good guys you Oaf!'

It took Thor perhaps thirty seconds for this to sink in before those baby blues widened and he opened his arms and enveloped the girl in an almighty hug, not unlike that of a python around it's prey.

'OK sparky' she choked flailing her arms desperately for help to no avail. 'OK, nice to see you, now _please stop squeezing me' _The last few words were barely squeaked out.

'I apologize young Spa of Quartos. You have grown greatly since I saw you last, and these strange symbols on your skin'

'WHAT!'

Spa looked at Tony who shrugged apologetically. She looked down at her hands. Sure enough, purple swirls and mystic signs were painted across her pale skin.

'To answer your question Captain' she said, responding to the look he was giving her that burnt holes in the back of her neck, 'It's a scientific equation in Spanish. An accident. Long time ago. They only show up if I forget myself. Doesn't happen often. Promise'

'Now' She surveyed the desolate landscape they had created. 'How the hell are we going to get that guy back up to the Helcarrier'

She pointed up at a highly amused looking Loki perched on the cliff, who had the audacity to give them a sarcastic little wave.

Cheeky bugger. He was beginning to warm on her.


End file.
